The AuctionBytes Blog has been giving a voice to online merchants since its launch in 2005. Named one of the world's top 30 blogs in 2008 by "Blogging Heroes." Weigh in with your thoughts on the joys and pitfalls of selling online.

By: Ina Steiner

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Amazon removed an important feature without warning that has small sellers asking, what happened to my storefront? Amazon removed the Products tab - but only for sellers on the Individual plan. The feature allowed shoppers to see their other items.

There are two main ways to sell on Amazon: as an Individual (for those expecting fewer than 40 sales a month) who pay 99-cent listing fees and as a Professional (for those planning to sell more than 40 items a month) and who pay $39.99/month with no listing fees.

Amazon had always displayed the following tabs for Individual sellers:

Feedback

Returns & Refunds

Shipping

Policies

Help

Products

But on April 23rd, sellers began reporting the Products tab had disappeared. That's the only way for shoppers to see all of the products the seller has listed for sale. One seller of used books said he had gotten a lot of sales thanks to the Products tab.

Another seller told EcommerceBytes she sold less than 40 lots/month and doesn't need the Professional plan. "Sometimes buyers took from me several pieces of goods at the same time, but now Amazon deprives sellers on the individual plan to have a storefront."

One of the sellers reporting the change on the Amazon discussion boards wrote, "Just wondering if this is a bug or something more troubling."

Sellers are left wondering if it's the first step in a possible plan to push sellers into the more expensive Pro plan.

by: eXtinctBay

If Amazon did not decide to require invoices of all DVDs with an MSRP of $24.95 or more (not to mention the other gated / blocked categories), I would still have a business on there.

Don't need a Pro plan if I only make only 5-10 sales a month. If they insist I do so to remain an Amazon seller, well, buh-bye.

Amazon Change Hurts Small Sellers

by: Rexford

Tue May 1 06:21:05 2018

My guess is that small sellers who routinely sold 40+ sales per month on Amazon would happily buy the subscription plan. What incentive do they have to do that if they routinely only have only 5-10 sales per month?

I have great respect for Amazon but they have a bad case of greed-itus. Hopefully this is just a programming error that will be resolved.

It's not a glitch. I sent an email to AMZ about this. Here's a portion of the reply: "I have verified that your seller account is currently on the Individual selling plan. At this time, sellers on the Individual plan may not be able to create Storefront. This feature is currently available only to sellers on the Professional selling plan."

I doubt anyone will be upgrading for this feature most Amazon buyers don't care who they are buying from just the price and whether it qualifies for free shipping. Amazon knows this and are trimming some dead pages.

Amazon Change Hurts Small Sellers

by: SANT1N1

Sat May 5 00:02:59 2018

What the huh? Amazon doesn't charge any listing fees, only SELLING fees. Individual sellers who aren't paying 39.99 a month to Amazon get charged an extra 99 cents (in addition to other fees listed in seller help fee schedule) when their item sells.

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